Sheriff' McCree: An Overwatch Story
by CaptainKodachrome
Summary: On the first mission of the newly reformed Overwatch, Soldier: 76 places Nikau with Jesse McCree, a Texan with a 'tude who doesn't take kindly to Nikau and are forced to work together to retrieve documents leading to Doomfist's location after he had escaped Helix.


'Sherriff' McCree: An Overwatch Story

(Disclaimer: I own nothing in this fanfic aside from Nikau Smith. You may use Nikau in your stories and artwork, however please credit me as the creator. Thanks and enjoy!)

The time had finally come. Overwatch was back in business with Jack Morrison at the helm. We had met in secret earlier at the Watchpoint: Gibraltor and were given our first assignments. "Here's the plan, recruits," Soldier: 76 said. "Doomfist has escaped from Helix and is hiding out. Numbani has leads that they plan to act upon and we need to do it before they get themselves slaughtered. Numbani is a staunch advocate for peace, however they are defended rather vicisously and the municipal building will be no pushover. That's why you will all be split into pairs. Oxton, you're with Winston." "Oh yeah! Put er' there, Winston!" Tracer said happily. They had been best friends for a long time, so it was no wonder they were being put together. "Mei, I want you and Genji to take the south side of the city." Genji stood up from his meditation. "As you wish, commander." Mei scurried up next to Genji with a giggle. Apparently there was a side to this relationship I didn't know about. "Faheerah, you and Ziegler will take the skies and watch for police. Also, no raining justice from above." Ana Amari said to her daughter. Pharah straightened up. "Understood, mo- uh captain." "Finally, Jesse and Nikau will be taking charge and grabbing the intel." Now Jesse McCree was a guy I never actually heard much about and vice versa. He just appeared out of nowhere the night before, no heads-up or no warning. He just was; and that was all the explanation I was given. He sat in the corner and gave a half-hearted puff of his cigar in my direction. "Now although we are there on peaceful matters, Overwatch is still considered a major threat to society. The police will be told to shoot on sight and they won't hold back. Even worse, Numbani has it's own personal defender." Jack threw a picture down on the ground. It showed a bipedal creature helping clear a tree off the road. "This is Orisa, a robot built from the parts of the Null Sector series of OR14 omnics. Just like those despicable bots', she has portable shields and a minigun. With the strength and precision of a excavator and offensive capabilities of a Bastion tank, she will not be an easy target if it comes down to it. She dislikes confrontation, but will not hesitate to open fire. Basically, if you don't mess with her, she won't mess with you; in theory." Captain Amari explained. "I've done some reconnaisance and found out the police's shifts and post changes. At aproximately 7:55, we will drop and take control of the municipal building while the whole city is celebrating Peace Day. Nikau will break in and take the intel, with McCree as his backup in case things go wrong. Tracer and Winston will be their backup if needed and will be positioned directly in the alleyway aside the building." Jack clapped his hands together. "Alright, there's your briefing. Tomorrow we move out." That was Jack's way of saying he was tired and no one meant to get in his way. Except me, of course. "Excuse me, Commander!" I said. "How's it going kid? I thought you told me uh... what's her name..? D. VA was gonna be here." He said with a uncommon smile. "Well i'm afraid we had an Omnic surprise attack; she's out of commission for the time being, so I've put her and Taihun on leave. You said I was being paired with-" "Jesse, yeah. I forgot you never really met him. Given his covert ops background with Blackwatch, I thought he'd be a compliment to your tactical thinking. He can be hard to get to know, but he's got a good heart; deep, deep down he's as soft as me." "Oh, that isn't too difficult to beat." I said, joking. Jack chuckled. "Alright, then smart aleck. Better go warm up to him then, or else tomorrow will be a pretty long day; for you." He waved me away as he headed towards his quarters, with Ana following behind him. I know for a fact I didn't want to know what was going on in there, so I turned to say hi to McCree. He hadn't moved from his chair in the corner. "Well now..." His voice was deeper than I had expected. "So you're that Nikau guy, huh? I expected you to be a bit older..." He once again puffed on his cigar. "That's me. Morrison told me you used to work in Blackwatch with Gabriel. That's gotta suck knowing you're old commrade is a turncoat murderer, huh?" McCree sat upright and took the cigar away from his lips. "I wouldn't be throwing that drivel 'round me, partner.' He took me under his wing and gave me a second chance, call it a fatherhood of sorts. He's a heluva lot of bad no doubt, but I still respect him!" McCree then stood up and pushed past me rather rudely. "Easy man, I was just asking!" I could tell that it WAS going to be a long day tomorrow.

The next day, I got straight up with Jack and Ana. They seemed rather close today, which gave me too much of a picture I didn't want to see. We made our way to the Dropship. The Commander and Captain went to the cockpit, leaving me waiting in the briefing room. Athena, the ship's internal AI system greeted me. "Greetings, Nikau. How are you feeling today?" I wasn't entirely sure what I was feeling. Sleeping was rather difficult that night due to McCree staring at me with a glare half the night; that and Winston's snoring from the next room over made it pretty difficult to even take a nap. But not to keep Athena waiting, I said: "Doing fine, Athena. What do you know about McCree?" "Unfortunately, Nikau I'm not allowed to share much data on that subject. By the Strike Commander's orders, no one's personal data can be shared." Well that was a bust. "How about my records; may I see those?" Athena pondered this a second. "Yes, you may. Since you are the new recruit, there is not much to the data packet, but we did manage to contact your mother. She gave us plenty to work with." My mother? She despised the fact I was in the army; New Zealand or otherwise. "That'll do I guess. Thanks, Athena." "If you need anything at all, don't hesitate Nikau. I'm always glad to help." My info appeared on the screen as she fell silent. What I needed was info on McCree, find some sort of middle ground, or a similarity; but that wasn't on offer. I took a swift glance through my info. For being a day-old operative, they certainly found enough to put together a portfolio. Creepily enough, there were pictures of me during the my training as MEKA Force tactitian. My favorite song was on display as well; a really old song by an artist named Gabriel Mann, One Sunken Angel. They even somehow got a hold of my favorite food; Maple candies and my love of Snow. "I didn't know you were an egomaniac; or a pyromaniac for that matter. Huh, figures why you have no respect for your higher-ups." A deep voice said from behind me. McCree was there, spinning his gun on his finger. "I'm not a pyromaniac! I create fire-based weaponry for the Korean army." McCree started to laugh. "I'm just joshin' ya. Damn, you are pretty defensive for a 'tactiteron.'" I sighed. "It's tactitian. Besides, I'm just as high as you are here. We're supposed to be partners; equals. If you can't handle that, then go play cowboy with someone else." Suddenly, McCree pointed his revolver straight at me. "That's it you little cow licker!" "McCree!" Tracer was standing aside us. "Put your gun away; he's just a kid!" Jesse wasn't having it. "This punk needs to learn a lesson, Lena. Where'd Jack pick up the little muskrat anyway?" Tracer blinked in and pulled the gun from McCree. "For your information Jesse, this little 'muskrat' was the reason behind Jack even being here, so show him some respect!" I was surprised to find Tracer was spinning the revolver herself. With a throw up in the air, we all watched as it landed right into McCree's holster. "Play nice with him. He might end up saving your sorry kiester." Speechless, McCree sat on a ammo crate. "You okay, love?" Tracer asked me. "I've been better, for sure..." I said with a nervous smile. "Ya' know, seeing that dashing face reminds me..." She pinched my cheek with a wink. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't embarrassed, especially considering just about everyone had started pouring into the dropship. "Oh, Winston! Would you come over here a sec?" She called out. Out of nowhere everyone's favorite gorilla came crashing down. "Excuse me for dropping in. Whatchya need, Lena?" Tracer started to whisper in his ear. "Oh, of course. We've been working on something for you, Nikau." He went over the desk next to the ammo crates and picked up a strange looking device. It was orange and green, in the shape of a blaster pistol, though rounder. The top compartment was protected by a small light barrier; most likely for ammo. At a closer look, I happened to notice it was covered in dots like a die. "Given your mastery of pyrotechnics, the Strike Commader had me commission a new weapon for you. That crossbow of yours won't cut it in the field, so I decided to make you a new launcher. It takes a long time to heat up a new ember, but it should do plenty of damage. Go on, give it a try!" The three of us spent the long trip to Numbani testing out my new weapon on Winston's barrier fields and playing Kingdoms of the Storm. Even Genji got in on the action!

It was late in the evening by the time we made it to Numbani. The sun was just setting and the city was starting the Peace Day festivities. "Remember team, watch for Orisa and keep the newbie safe, McCree." Jack said. "Yeah, yeah..." Our craft landed on top of the opera house. Down below, party mode was engaged. The whole street was lined with citizens dressed in decorative masks and beautifully crafted eccrentric clothing. Ana handed me and Jesse a set of clothes with it's own special mask. Mine looked rather similar to a mask from a game with an orange marsupial as the protagonist. "Wear these. You'll blend in and not be out of place if things go wrong." Jesse begrudgingly put on his attire and we jumped across the rooftops to the municipal building where the plans were last seen. "Here's the deal, Jesse. We're gonna discretely; lift the glass and rappel down to the vault. From there, we'll breach it using your nifty laser device. Sound good?" McCree put his mask on. "Nope, but I guess it's better than dying." He scoffed and began to lift up a glass pane. "Gently... We don't want to trigger the alarm." McCree growled softly. "I'm being as gentle as i can, Nicky." I gritted my teeth. "That's Nikau!" I slowly lowered Jesse down onto the plush carpet. I came after, leaping down as the rope went taught just above the floor and my bone-crunching drop came to a halt. "Discretely.." McCree chuckled slightly and began his search for the vault. "We'll be looking for the vault that contains some Top Secret-y stuff." "You honestly think there's just gonna be a vault labeled: 'Top Secret files; Do not steal from?'" I gave him a playful smirk. "Obviously not, but still they're going to have to file it away somewhere better than a deposit box, right?" "You don't have the slightest clue of what you're doing do you, kid?" "Look, I'm only gonna say this once. I'm not a kid!" Suddenly, I heard the sound of glass smashing coming from the adjacent room. "Get down, someone's here!" McCree look horror-stricken. "I know only one guy who's got an anger enough to just smash a window on a government building..." He suddenly dove towards me and took me down by the knees. "Don't move a muscle!" We were hidden under an office desk in a single row of cubicles. The heavy thud of boots come closer to us with the graceful clack of heels in pursuit. "You could've been a little quieter. No doubt the noise you made will've triggered the noise alarm." A familiarly French and feminine voice said to the other person as they entered. "We'll be gone by the time anyone comes. It's as simple as this; get in, grab the damn papers and get out." A raspy, evil-sounding voice snarled back to her. Ameile LaCroix, otherwise known as Widowmaker and Gabriel Reyes; The Reaper. McCree kept up close to me, slowly pulling for his revolver. It was obvious he was as scared about the situation as I was, but still he prepared to aim. "Someone's been here, Reyes." Widowmaker was taking a look around evidently and had found our way of entrance. Here was to hope that they decided not to check the cubicles. "They're still here. Nothing's been stolen, yet. At first sight, kill them." Ameile gave a slight chuckle of glee. "My favorite...~" She moved into the next room, as did Reyes after her. McCree very slowly took a look over the cubicle wall and fully pulled his gun. "Get yours ready. They'll come back through, I reckon'." Oh man, were we in trouble. Talon's best were literally in the next room. I had dealt with LaCroix once before, but that was with Jack's help and even then we almost died. Not to mention Jack was near death the last time he messed with Gabriel, even with Captain Ana helping him. "Here's the plan... I want you to go into the next room and search for the file. The vault room's gotta be that way." Jesse pointed towards the room Reyes and LaCroix had just entered from. "What about you?" "Reyes may be a brute, but he's a brute with a brain and he knows that the coppers are on the way. If I can hold him off until then..." I shook my head. "Not an option, Sherrif. We gotta sneak it out right under their noses." I took Jesse by the arm and drug him into the next room with me. Sure enough, there was a rather large hole in the window pane and glass shards littered on the floor. Along the wall there were to doors, both unlabeled. "I'll search this door, you check the one beside." McCree said. "If you see either yell'er belly, run. It ain't worth the risk." "I've dealt with Widowmaker before, let's just hope I don't get a run-in with Reyes." I jogged toward my door and carefully opened it. It squeaked and squealed rather loudly as I opened it. "Shush it!" McCree hissed to me snappingly. "I'm not doing anything..! Its not my fault they don't oil the door hinges." I hissed back before slipping through. My room was another room of office cubicles, however one thing I did notice was the gradually growing sound of Reyes' boots. They were in my room! With me! I did my best to breath quietly and listened for their footsteps, which were slowly stepping around the cubicles. "How many office workers does a municipal building need? They record crimes and they waste paper and ink." Reyes snarled. "Since when did you care for the planet?" LaCroix sounded shocked. "I have a wife and daughter to worry about too, you know." "I can't remember that feeling..." Reyes punched open the door I entered through and I heard the sound of a gunshot! Suddenly a full blown firefight broke out and I charged straight into the room, seeing McCree ducked behind an office desk he had apparently tipped over. "Just step away, Gabe. We both know you won't fire on me." No one had noticed me yet, giving me the perfect opportunity to get behind Ameile and choke her out. She did struggle a bit, but I kept her finger off of the trigger of her rifle long enough to put her to sleep. "You sound so confident, Jesse. I would be proud of my handy work if it wasn't for the fact you're dead wrong." I thought i'd take the chance and reached out around Reyes to try him too. As I wrapped my arm to his neck, I suddenly just went through his body, he had become some sort of etheral mist! "That was pretty smart of you, kid." His cold eyes, glowing red turned to me with a very clear smirk expression. "But you aren't all what you think you are. None of us are." I stumbled back and started to crawl away from him as he advanced towards me. "Don't you dare, Reyes!" McCree leapt over the desk and ran towards us. Gabriel turned back to Jesse as they clashed fists. "Don't do this Gabe; he's just a kid!" "One less person sucking on my air." McCree parried the shot of Reyes' shotgun with his bionic arm and tossed it away. "How dare you! What would you think if that was your little girl you said that about!? Would think like that then?" Gabriel suddenly looked even madder than before. "If you. Ever. Speak. Of my. Daughter. Ever again!" He started to throw punch after punch at Jesse, landing everywhere he could reach. Jesse reached for his gun and aimed at Gabe's chest and fired. I let out a pained grunt, the bullet had phased through Reyes and went right into my shoulder. It had apparently lost a bit of speed somewhere, because it only just penetrated the surface. Reyes wasn't quick enough to change to his phantom form; he took it through the chest, a visible red spot was where his right pectoral should be, though no exit hole, meaning he changed form right in the middle of the shot. He slugged McCree right in the button, knocking him to the floor almost instantly. I rose to my feet, the newfound pain in my shoulder was exasterbated by my attempt to move. I've been shot before but that was an energy ball like what is in Jack's pulse rifle, it just disappates leaving a cauterized wound; this was a real bullet from a Peacekeeper revolver and it stung like mad! "Any last words?" Reyes turned back to me and pulled out a fresh pair of shotguns. Where he keeps them, I don't know. "I need to know; after all you and Jack went through together... Why? Why did you do what you did to him?" Reyes' lifted up his skull-shaped mask, his face was badly scarred just as Jack's. His eyes were even worse to look at, cold and forever glaring; not even Ameile's eyes were that evil and at least her's were somewhat pretty to look at. "I had a moment. When I saw that bastard, Antonio had the mere chance of being able to walk, I learned something; no matter how much good you can do, the bad will always fight back and so I said to myself, why fight it? There's your story, now it's time for sleep." Suddenly, the rest of the window shattered and in it's place was that robot, Orisa. "Fortifying defenses. The police will be here in five minutes." She set down a barrier field and fired at Reyes who entered 'phantom mode' and closed in on her. McCree had apparently just got back up as he ran over to me and took up my hurt shoulder and pulled my arm over his self. "Sorry about that one, 'Deputy.' Didn't expect him to have the reaction time." We walked into the next room, leaving Orisa to deal with Reyes. McCree set me down in an office chair and barged through a door. "Oh my god. You won't believe it, Nicky." I slowly stood up and ran to where he was. The papers were there, sitting on a desk, waiting to be stamped for investigation. We looked at each other for a moment and rushed out the front door with the papers in hand. "This is Nicky- i mean Nikau. We have the papers, it was pretty hot in there, but we have the papers!" Not even two seconds after I had said it, Tracer had appeared in a costume of her own. It was bright orange and she was wearing a feathered midrift which covered her chronal accelerator. Her mask matched mine. "I'll take this straight to the commander. You guys try your darndest to blend in and have a bit of fun!" She saluted us with a wink and slowly went in reverse with the papers in hand. "You heard the lady, let's blend in before that robot comes to find us. And..." McCree patted my good shoulder. "Thanks... partner." I was shocked. "Was that appreciation I just heard? I think that was a bit of appreciation that just assaulted my eardrums!" "Yeah well, don't get used to it deputy, your still a big pain in the hide to deal with. Let's get moving along and I'll patch you up as best I can." I patted him back. "Sure thing, I just hope you actually know what your doing, I don't want to be in more pain than I already am." I gave him a devious smirk. "You little cow licker..." He gave me a light push and scruffed up my hair.


End file.
